MEGHAN wrote to her dad after her wedding and begged him to stop “victimising her” with public outbursts, her pals claim.

But the Duchess of Sussex, 37, was left devastated when Thomas Markle, 74, replied by asking for a photoshoot with her.

They also fear the “emotional trauma” of dealing with her dad could harm pregnant Meghan’s baby.

Five close friends revealed Meghan, 37, wrote to Thomas Markle after her wedding — which he failed to attend.

And in an attempt to build bridges, she told him she would “always love him”.

But she was devastated when he responded by asking for a photo shoot with her.

Thomas missed his daughter’s wedding to Prince Harry last May after it was revealed he had staged paparazzi pictures.

THOMAS CALLED FOR 'A PHOTOSHOOT'
A pal said: “After the wedding she wrote him a letter. “She’s like ‘Dad, I’m so heartbroken. I love you. I have one father. Please stop victimising me through the media so we can repair our relationship.’

“He writes her a really long letter in return, and he closes it by requesting a photo op with her.

“She feels like, ‘That’s the opposite of what I’m saying. I’m telling you I don’t want to communicate through the media, and you’re asking me to communicate through the media. Did you hear anything I said?’

“It’s almost like they’re ships passing.

“He knows how to get in touch with her.

“It’s super-painful because Meg was always so dutiful.

“I think she will always feel genuinely devastated by what he’s done. At the same time, because she’s a daughter, she has a lot of sympathy for him.”

The close friends spoke anonymously to US magazine People after Thomas made a string of public outbursts about his royal daughter and Meghan’s half-sister Samantha cashed in on their “non-existent” relationship.

The Sun understands the pals spoke to People with Meghan’s approval, and that her press team at Kensington Palace were kept in the dark.

One friend said: “Meg has sat silently back and endured the lies and untruths.

“We want to stand up against the global bullying we are seeing and speak the truth about who our friend, a mother-to-be, really is.

“We worry about what this is doing to her and the baby. It’s wrong to put anyone under this level of emotional trauma, let alone when they’re pregnant.”

The pals vehemently defend the Duchess and reveal she was devastated by her father’s response to her letter and did not talk to him after that.

They also claim that:

MEGHAN’S   half-brother Tom and half-sister Samantha were “not a part of her life”;
HER religion and prayer have got her through tough times
CRITICISM of her sending emails at 5am is such a “weird slant” on someone who is “organised, diligent, focused, hardworking”.

One of the Duchess’s long-time friends was scathing about her family.

They said Thomas’s older children, Thomas Markle Junior and Samantha Grant, “were in their mid-to-late teens when Meghan was born” and “were not a part of her life”.

The friend added: “They’ve been made to appear as siblings who were very close and then they had this falling out, and that’s not the truth at all.

“Fast-forward to Meghan dating Harry and now Samantha is (going by the last) name Markle. And then she began this career capitalising on Meg.

THERE IS 'NO RELATIONSHIP'
“Everyone who knows Meg knows the two of them have no relationship.”

The same friend also gave Meghan’s side of the story, after her dad Thomas pulled out of walking her down the aisle at the royal wedding due to a heart attack.

They told the magazine Meghan had looked after her father financially, despite what Samantha had claimed.

They said: “Meghan’s been a rock for everyone in her family.

“It’s a shame that it’s being painted in this other light that is just absolutely false.

“She took care of her father with such incredible generosity.

“The fact that this could be flipped around, that she was acting out or not caring for him, is preposterous.

WOULDN'T TAKE CALLS
“The Saturday before the wedding, she and Harry were told that a story was going to come out the next day saying that Tom was staging pictures with the paparazzi.

“Their team told them that if the story was fake, they could file a complaint.

“So Meg calls Tom and asks him, and he’s swearing up and down that it’s not true. The next day the pictures come out.

“Even with all that, Meg and Harry were still so focused on getting him to London.

“At no point was there talk of, ‘Now that we know he lied, he’s in trouble’.

“Tom wouldn’t take her calls, wouldn’t take Harry’s calls. The next morning when the car got there (to take him to the airport), he wouldn’t get in.

“(Later) Meg heard he’d had a heart attack and she’s calling him and texting him, even up to the night before the wedding.

“It was like, ‘Please pick up. I love you, and I’m scared.’ It was endless.”

Another friend revealed how spiritual Meghan was, saying she meditates and “really lives in the current moment”.

They also reveal that the Duchess does all her own make-up, dresses and styles herself and writes her own speeches for herself and Harry.

Former actress Meghan has been accused of intimidating staff with 5am emails and a “demanding manner”.

PALACE STAYS SILENT
But one of her former colleagues on US TV drama Suits said: “The email thing is such a weird slant on someone who is actually an incredibly organized, diligent, focused, hard-working person.

“She was always that way.

“She showed up on set more prepared than anyone else.”

Meghan was also praised for providing hand-warmers for Palace guards standing in the cold weather and for laying on an ice-cream and sorbet stand for her staff.

Kensington Palace refused to comment.